Early morning.
On the beach of Shimotsuki Village, the sounds of Kōta's playful mischief and Zoro's angry roars could be heard from afar.
"One, two, one, two, Zoro, you need to speed up."
"Urusai." Looking at Kuina's retreating back, Zoro tightly gripped Kōta's legs and accelerated forward.
Kōta was currently riding on Zoro's neck, exerting pressure on him with his domain, a request Zoro himself had made, with the condition that he had to carry him during their morning run.
Looking at Zoro beneath him, he couldn't help but increase the pressure further, "Hey! Zoro, put some effort in, you're going to lose sight of Kuina."
Hearing Kōta's gloating voice, Zoro felt his shoulders sink. He gritted his teeth, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right arm, took a deep breath, and roared, charging forward at an even faster pace.
"Aaaah..."
With his burst of speed, the others struggled to keep up.
Watching Zoro speed past, Awa gasped for air and said, "Damn it! Zoro has improved so much this past year."
"Yeah! He's now the strongest among all the boys, except for Kōta. Even the adults can't beat him anymore," Tao replied to Hua, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Aro, running at the back, suddenly accelerated to Hua's side, "It's a shame we can't train with Kōta."
"No choice, who can withstand that kind of pressure!" The younger boys, who had been running ahead, also slowed down.
The senior disciple leading the group, hearing the discussions from the younger ones behind him, turned back and barked, "Alright, stop comparing yourselves to Zoro. You know his usual training volume, so hurry up and catch up!"
Right! We can't compare with him; that guy is like a beast.
The younger boys nodded in unison, looking at the retreating figures of Zoro and Kōta with admiration.
As for Kuina, she was now just a tiny black dot in the distance.
"Yes!"
Then, they let out a loud shout and forced themselves to stride forward.
At the end of the beach, they turned a corner and walked inland to a small harbor, where a sea breeze, mixed with the smell of fish, blew towards them.
This was the only harbor in Shimotsuki Village. As the creek flowed east into the sea, the coastlines on both sides were indented, forming a natural sheltered harbor, which became the mooring place for the village's boats going out to sea.
Unfortunately, Shimotsuki Village's location on this island was rather remote, and usually, not many large ships passed by. The last time Kōta saw a large ship was several months ago.
Even though it was still early, with the sun just peeking over the horizon, the dock was already bustling with activity. The early fishing boats had already returned.
One could see about a dozen small fishing boats of various sizes docked in the harbor, each with robust men unloading baskets of fish and shrimp.
Kōta retracted his domain and looked at Zoro, who was lying on the ground gasping for breath, and kicked him in the backside.
"Get up, you're panting like a dying dog from this little bit of effort. When will you ever surpass Kuina?"
He pulled Kuina, who was watching them, closer and said, "Right, Kuina?"
"Yes! He's still so weak."
Kuina looked at the mischievous Kōta and replied playfully.
Her words could only provoke Zoro a little. Zoro's progress this past year had been truly rapid, at least faster than hers had been back then.
As she grew older, her chest gradually developed, and she could clearly feel her progress slowing down. This forced her to spend more time on strength training.
As for swordsmanship, after gradually letting go of her fixation on gender in recent months, she could feel her swordsmanship becoming more fluid and natural.
Hearing Kuina's reply, Kōta looked at her increasingly gentle and playful face and smiled with satisfaction.
Let it be clear, he wasn't a pervert, nor was he playing a 'raising' game...
As for the "whetstone" that caused Kuina's death, he had long since thrown it into the sea, and the attic was sealed.
As for when it would be opened again, it depended on Kuina's situation. The dojo was large enough, with plenty of empty rooms.
It was absurd, falling to death even from a few meters high stairs.
He had once suspected that this was all a play put on by Kōshirō and Kuina.
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
At least until he transmigrated, there had been no news of Kuina in One Piece, whether in the manga or anime.
"Let's go, let's see what good seafood we have today."
He pulled Kuina and walked towards a familiar fishing boat at the front of the dock.
"Wait, wait, wait for me."
Zoro's slightly panting voice came from behind.
Entering the harbor, one could hear the sounds of many merchants and fishermen haggling. They were the bridges for information and goods between villages.
Most of these people were villagers from the inland mountain settlements on the island. They transported the fish and shrimp here back to the mountains, and then brought fruits and wild game from the mountains out, earning profits from both sides.
Kōta and the others walked straight towards the largest fishing boat. While called the largest, it was only a small sailboat about ten meters long and a few meters high relative to other fishing boats.
This boat belonged to the Isshin Dojo and was mainly responsible for purchasing grain from other islands, and occasionally going out to sea to fish.
The busy strongman on the boat, seeing them approach, turned and shouted into the cabin, "Uncle Ikku, Kōta and the others are here."
"Alright, alright, I'm coming out now." An old man with white hair and a goatee emerged, holding a large fish basket.
Seeing the old man, Kōta quickly jumped onto the boat, strode over to the old man, took the fish basket, and placed it on the side of the boat.
The old man gently wiped his hands on the apron in front of him, then took a pipe from his waist and stuffed tobacco leaves into the bowl.
He then reached into his pocket for a lighter, rolled the gears, and with a "clack," lit the tobacco.
The old man first leaned against the railing of the boat, then raised his pipe, squinting his eyes as he took large puffs.
He slowly raised his head, looking at Kuina, who had come up behind Kōta, through the smoke, and said with remembrance, "Kuina, you're looking more and more like your mother!"
Kuina quickly stepped forward, leaning on Kōta's back, and peeked over his shoulder to look down at the fish basket on the ground.
"Uncle Ikku, what did you catch today?"
Before Ikku could answer, Zoro, who had just climbed onto the boat, rushed in front of them and yanked open the lid of the fish basket.
Looking inside the basket, they saw it piled high with plump and robust lobsters.
These lobsters, suddenly exposed to the light, tried to scramble out, but they were piled on top of each other, and one pulling the other, they couldn't get out.
"What? Lobsters again, I'm tired of eating them."
Zoro threw down the lid and grumbled at the lobsters in the basket.
*Dong—!*
Seeing Zoro shouting loudly, Ikku immediately raised his hand and punched him on the head, "You brat, aren't you satisfied with having lobsters to eat? These are the most delicious ingredients around here."
"Yeah, yeah! Zoro, why are you so ungrateful?"
Seeing Ikku fly into a rage, Kōta and Kuina quickly took a step back and nodded frantically.
"Ouch... It hurts, it hurts!"
Zoro crouched on the ground, covering his head with his hands, and roared at Kōta and Kuina, who had retreated to the side.
"Hey! You two are so disloyal. Who was it that said they were tired of eating lobsters last time?"
Ikku's face, appearing dimly through the smoke, turned towards Kuina, who quickly shook her head, denying it.
His gaze then shifted to Kōta, who shrugged and said with a serious expression, "Uncle Ikku, don't you know me? How could I ever say something like that?"
After speaking, he turned to face Zoro's angry eyes and winked at him.
Just then, a burly man, who had been smiling and watching them, spoke up, "Hey! Uncle Ikku, don't tease them anymore. Isn't there a big catch in the ship's cabin?"
Zoro looked up at Ikku in surprise. Ikku took a puff of his cigarette and then looked down at Zoro, "What are you looking at? Go and move it from the ship's cabin yourself!"
Zoro cheered and jumped up, running towards the ship's cabin.
Ikku then looked at the big man next to him, "Kubi, go and help that kid."
"Yes, Uncle Ikku," Kubi replied and followed Zoro into the cabin.
Kōta walked up to Ikku and said, "Uncle Ikku, what about today's news?"
"Why are you in such a hurry, you little rascal?"
He put down his pipe, tapped it on the boat's railing, and rummaged in his chest for a stack of papers, handing them to Kōta, "Here! This is the news from the past few days."
Kōta took the papers and unfolded them, leaning against the ship's railing, and began to read.
The first article stated, "The Celestial Dragons' Grand Celebration in the Goa Kingdom," and as he read on, he realized it was preparation to welcome the Celestial Dragons.
Kōta stroked his chin and thought pensively, Hmm... Celestial Dragons, Goa Kingdom, Monkey D. Luffy, Foosha Village.
His eyes suddenly lit up. Wasn't Sabo's ship blown up by the Celestial Dragons, and then rescued by Dragon?
Could it be this same Celestial Dragon? If so, it should be tonight!
"Mm!"
Just then, he suddenly sensed something, turned, and walked to the stern of the boat, looking seriously at the distant sea.
"What's wrong? Kōta."
Kuina sensed Kōta's oddity and followed him to the stern with a puzzled expression.
"A ship, a very big ship."
"A ship?"
Ikku also walked over, looking confusedly towards the outside of the harbor. Besides clouds and waves, only seagulls were flying freely in the sky.
Turning back, he looked at Kōta with surprise. His Observation Haki was too powerful!
He was an old man who had come here with Kōshirō from Wano Country, and he knew what it meant that this kid could sense something he couldn't.
At this moment, the ship's cabin suddenly became lively.
Looking closer, it turned out to be the brats like Hua, climbing onto the boat one after another and rushing into the cabin, shouting and hollering.
The senior disciple leading them searched around and finally found Kōta and the others at the stern.
Seeing Kōta and the others staring into the distance, he didn't ask but curiously followed their gaze to the horizon.
Just then, between the distant sea and sky, a faint black dot appeared.
As time passed, the black dot gradually became clearer. Looking closely, it was a huge sailing ship tens of meters long, with a hull ten meters high above the water, adorned with a giant dragon.
From afar, it looked like a living dragon swimming towards the harbor from the distant sea.
The sailing ship moved at a rapid pace and soon reached the front of the harbor.
Upon seeing the enormous figure at the bow of the ship, Kōta's expression gradually became excited.
It really was them.